[Lingtyp] Adjective word order

[Bobaljik, Jonathan David]

A recent review article which includes references to many of the older references mentioned by others so far is:

Contras, G. 2023. Adjective Ordering Across Languages. Annu. Rev. Linguist. 9:357–76

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-030521-041835

Jonathan David Bobaljik
Department of Linguistics
Harvard University

On Jan 4, 2025, at 13:00, lingtyp-request at listserv.linguistlist.org wrote:


From: JOO Ian <joo at res.otaru-uc.ac.jp>
Subject: [Lingtyp] Adjective word order
Date: January 4, 2025 at 11:47:02 GMT+1
To: "<LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>" <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>


Dear typologists,

I have come across multiple sources in popular media that the adjectives within an English noun phrase must follow this order: opinion-size-age-shape-color-origin-material-purpose.
For example, "a lovely (opinion) big (size) red (color) wood (material) house” and not “*a wood lovely red big house.”
What’s curious is that I couldn’t find any academic source for this (seemingly convincing) claim. I’m curious to know how strict it is a grammatical rule, what are the functional-cognitive explanations for it, and whether similar rules (or tendencies) are present in other languages.
If anyone could point to any relevant previous research, it would be much appreciated.

From Otaru,
Ian

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朱　易安
JOO, IAN
准教授
Associate Professor
小樽商科大学
Otaru University of Commerce

🌐 ianjoo.github.io
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